How Hollywood Sells Us War

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Ever notice how just about every single depiction of the US military on film and TV is positive? There's a reason for that. Come learn about just how long the military has been "adjusting" Hollywood scripts, and what that means for us as a society.
How Hollywood Sells Us War - Second Thought
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[@Fusilier7]

It's not just Hollywood, the video game industry sells war too. Call of Duty and Battlefield makes war look awesome, using the latest small arms, fighting the enemy, and being the hero. These games desensitize war, it makes war look easy, and the military does use video games as propaganda, and a recruiting tool.

[@Wolfboy2012]

The only two games that makes war as hell are COD World At War and Battlefield 1, both of those games show us the horrors of war and shows how both sides commit war crimes (World at War) and shows that no one is good (BF1)

[@styx8975]

As long as COD’s quality keeps going down and Battlefield continues to be released with many bugs I wouldn’t worry too much about gamers playing those games and being indoctrinated. Gamers hate capitalists as much as anyone since they keep upping the prices and adding micro transactions or NFTs.

[@Wolfboy2012]

@@styx8975 Yeah I'm still playing Skyrim, Fallout New Vegas, any open world game. Hell even Fallout despite having a pro-American message it is acutally making fun of the cold war propaganda that the US committed during the 50s-80s

[@troyjardine5850]

This is why game series like Metal Gear Solid are such a godsent. Not afraid to be critical of war, the Military Industrial Complex, propaganda, ect. It's telling that games like this are Japanese in origin, funny how much of the media critiquing the US come from outside the US

[@GTAVictor9128]

Originally CoD did want to portray the horrors of war, making the player just a soldier on the battlefield. CoD WAW was the last one to do that, ever since then they developed as so-called power fantasy. It was ever since they stepped into the modern era that it became: America good, Russia (and later China) bad.

[@rootbeerfloathaspop3301]

An American once told me that they consider war as a “culture”. Just goes to show how effective the propaganda is.

[@henrycrabs3497]

Go play Civ 6, it's true in that respect

[@rootbeerfloathaspop3301]

@@henrycrabs3497 i don't wanna buy it

[@TheCommonS3Nse]

That's very true, but I think it's broader than that. I think Americans view violence itself as a cultural aspect of being an "American", which would tie in their obsession with guns and capital punishment as well. Most other developed nations view violence as something that should be avoided at all costs, unless absolutely necessary. If there is anything that the recent Rittenhouse trial put on full display, its that in America, you are justified in committing violence so long as you "win" the confrontation. Many legal scholars pointed out that based on the legal arguments, the verdict would likely have been the exact same had the "victims" killed Rittenhouse instead. Therefore, the violent act itself cannot be questioned as long as you can demonstrate some level of concern for your own life, regardless of whether you entered into that dangerous situation of your own volition. Same can be said for war. You are justified in the violence of war so long as you "win" the conflict.

[@BolchenTheDrummer]

And that's why so many view that the american culture should be opposed as we oppose to genital mutilation and other culture aspects that we consider barbaric.

[@emylily8266]

@@rootbeerfloathaspop3301 they said to play it not to buy it ~

[@naomibousson]

This video reminds me of the media studies classes I took at university. The professor made us watch the Turkish movie "Valley of the Wolves: Iraq" and observe how this movie looks exactly like a Hollywood blockbuster with the difference that the heroes in this story are the Turks, and the Americans are the bad guys. It was a deliberate choice to make this film in the same style as an American war film because it makes the (white European and American) audience aware that the hollywood films are pure propaganda. The film was a huge success in Turkey and in Turkish communities around the world, but as you can probably guess, not only did it receive a lot of criticism from white and Jewish communities, in some places there were even calls for the film to be banned because it was thought it was "pro-Muslim terrorist propaganda." Those lessons were really eye-opening. I can no longer watch an American action film without wondering how it would be received if the hero were a brown-skinned Muslim and the enemy was a white American.

[@ryangosling7689]

the movie was also a propaganda movie and it made millions on feeding Turks what they want to see, not a critique on how Hollywood manipulates people for money

[@ryangosling7689]

Also who was the hero wasn’t as important there as the fact it tried to whitewash a literall black ops on the territory of Kurds which was supposed to destabilise it so Turkish military could take it. Not even Hollywood tries to pull of this kind of stuff

[@Kelly-cd3gb]

@@ryangosling7689 thats the point of it? It copied hollywoods films propoganda but made it for what turks want to see instead of what Americans wants to

[@ryangosling7689]

@@Kelly-cd3gb but the author of the comment stated that it was some critiqe on propaganda war movies. My point is that the movie just copies american propaganda becasue it wants to do the same thing as these movies for different audience instead of critique or anything

[@dontneedtoknow9629]

@@ryangosling7689 Ye, that's why it was placed in the context of criticism towards Hollywood movies and culture around the military. The movie itself don't have those underlying tones, but seeing how similarly it is done to portray another military ( in this case Turkish ) just gives her another perspective of how truly bad American military propaganda has permeated through Hollywood and how "normal" it has become.

[@shariqhasan6220]

As a transformers fan, the micheal bay transformers movies took this to whole new level. They literally made the military the main good guys while the Autobots were there as backup only most of the time. They even showed Autobots fighting to protect US interests with the Autobots going to Iran in order to destroy a nuclear facility.

[@shariqhasan6220]

@@grayelentrenadorpokemon3245 Even though it was a small scene but it still felt out of context and deliberate propaganda especially since the Autobots pledged not to harm any humans.

[@saccorhytus]

Transformers vs Hussain lol (I know it’s Iraq not Iran btw)

[@shariqhasan6220]

@@saccorhytus but the flag they show on Que/Wheeljack's alt mode acting as a decoy had an Iranian flag as far as I remember.

[@2bdaqueen268]

Most of the TF franchise is very anti war so it’s weird that Michael bay decided to the opposite direction, well at least most of the time the military are dicks to the transformers and that’s the only way i would see them treating those guys, they barely treat their own people with respect so why would they be nice to aliens and I doubt the Autobots would ever willingly be their lapdogs against other humans, but Michael Bay is gonna be Michael bay lol

[@Ribulose15diphosphat]

This can also Backfire. Transformers is a Franchise for children, and Michael Bay is a punchline of a director. Using this stuff makes the USA look bad. Imagine Russia using Masha and the Bear or Japan using Pokemon for recruitment. They would get laughed at.

[@yohannessulistyo4025]

"Come and See" is the movie that made me realise how pathetically lethargic Hollywood and the entire western audience is at classifying "anti-war movies". It is a real psychological horror and depicts the feeling of loss and being victims of war in overly realistic manner. In Europe, from Das Boot to the latest "Downfall" (Der Untergang) war is boring, but suddenly can be tense, and overall scary, somebody will end up dead, and it is not as glorious as Hollywood made it to be. Even when seen from Hitler's perspective, a Soviet shell landing near your bunker is not accompanied by epic war music like Hollywood films. You'll hear deafening explosion, broken glasses, people thrown into the floor, and then random screams, crumbling wall and ceiling, then angry rants, it is chaotic, not epic. It is emotionally exhausting. Malena shows how war torn the civilian population suffered throughout this "boring" perspective. Steven Spielberg calls "Every war movie, good or bad, is an anti-war movie" - which is pretty cute, given how I become a military junkie after watching Saving Private Ryan. It gave birth to Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, Company of Heroes, Call of Duty series, it practically jumpstarted the entire FPS genre. Yeah, it shows bloody and gory Omaha beach landing, but that's it, the rest of it are "cool" it talks about "honour" "sacrifice" and "valour" - not horrors like somebody losing his limb and have his guts spilled out while crying for his mama. I never even imagined "Appocalypse Now" or "Full Metal Jacket" to be anything as anti-war, rather than making Ride of the Valkyries to be a cool helicopter music and hazing ritual looked badass. Why? Probably because Americans never has their backyard bombed, their families threatened by vengeful foreign soldiers, their possessions looted, their towns razed to the ground, they sit comfortably in theatre and demand to be "educated" and "entertained" without being offended since they paid ticket money for it.

[@theghostofspookwagen4715]

To be fair, the wars in Saving Private Ryan and some of the CoD games (e.g. World at War) were absolutely justified. Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany were threats that needed to be dealt with militarily.

[@tonyjones1560]

"Come And See" has got to be the most *brutal* war film ever made and barely touches the horror of the war on the Eastern Front. All these years later, Russian teenagers are digging up the remains of German war dead and sending them home for a proper burial. My father had a friend who was a Wehrmacht officer (a major). He went into captivity when Von Paulus surrendered the remnants of the 6th Army at Stalingrad and managed to survive nearly a decade of what amounted to slave labor in Siberia. He and his wife somehow adopted my dad, and when he took us to meet them (his second US Air Force posting, this time with a wife and three children), they said, "We have grandchildren now!" FTR, I am a black man... Back to movies...I watched a film called "Stalingrad," which followed a Wehrmacht infantry unit that was sent to Russia after the fall of France. I don't want to spoil the ending if you haven't seen it but it's...haunting. I've noticed that war films made in countries other than the USA tend to go veeery light on the "comic book hero" aspect. Probably because, like you said, most Americans who have seen war (even total war!) also got to get on a plane at some point, fly home to hot meals, clean sheets, reality TV and cold beer...and try to forget about it. Ideologies to the side, I seriously doubt that there'd be so many calls for "civil war" or "1776 moments" in the USA if the callers truly understood what they were asking for.

[@eindalton2638]

Generation Kill is an American production that is very realistic and critical in its portrayal of war. I recommend.

[@deadrivers2267]

Watching Hollywood war movies is still a guilty pleasure of mine

[@emersonlee5146]

Thats just you choosing to see the movies that way. When I watch Full Metal Jacket I can't imagine why anyone would want to join the Marines. Apocalypse Now made me scared of just how different and dark certain parts of the world are and how war is full of madness. Ride of the Valkyries is a tiny portion of the film the rest of it is a descent into darkness and the boat crew questioning pretty much everything. as they slowly lose their minds and lives.

[@jlcii]

I noticed that you mentioned at the end of your video of how people accuse your work of being too depressing. You are simply reporting the truth, and what is going on in this corrupt and chaotic ass world that we live in. I hope that you never feel discouraged in using your platform to simply expose the truth just because some people don't feel happy and shiny about it. These are topics that need to be discussed. If people want warm and fuzzy content, let them go watch plenty of the other content creators and platforms on here that deliver bright videos with funny one-liners and humorous spectacles. Thank you for the hard work that you do, and keep up the good work ✌️

[@SecondThought]

Thank you so much 🤗

[@andyshelly3473]

the truth is the truth , weather anyone wants to hear it or not , its still reality .

[@bobbyferg9173]

Don’t know why people say his videos are depressing, the amount of memes per video has only gone up recently

[@grmpEqweer]

@@SecondThought Any chance we could get you to do a takedown on Reagan sometime? 🥺

[@everythingsfine1395]

@@SecondThought Your videos are entertaining my comrade, people will think critically first and next they’ll create ideas , we learned alot from you

[@carrieullrich5059]

Reminder, the Department of War was renamed the Department of Defense.

[@ФедяКрюков-в6ь]

Department of Peace would be more appropriate given the fact we are living in post-1984 world

[@GayBrain]

What do you mean? They're only going to different countries to defend themselves!

[@bionicleapple1254]

- I'm not even being ironic - literally 1984

[@ФедяКрюков-в6ь]

@@bionicleapple1254 we are 38 years past 1984. Nowadays it's basically cyberpunk version of said book.

[@halogo117]

America: Let us defend ourselves by invading other countries and intervening in their internal affairs

[@rarecandy3445]

i love how the hardcore right wing accused hollywood of furthering the communist liberal agenda while conveniently ignoring how involved it is in maintaining the feelgood pro america image of the military.

[@raycoverlounge]

communism = far left liberalism = center-right communist =/= liberal

[@DonDadda45]

@@raycoverlounge That's the point

[@rarecandy3445]

@@raycoverlounge when i say communist liberal agenda, i am quoting the right wing exactly as they say, see and respond to it. its the go-to strategy for right wing politicans to identify anything within an inch to the left of the right as communist, socialist, leftist, anything. it is not compatible with an authoritarian fascist government structure and they attack just the slightest blink of an eye. the democratic party is nowhere near left wing, never has been, never will be. they get accused of being communists but never actually admit it. if they did, they’d probably lose their moderate voterbase, “prove” right wingers’ point, and have to abandon a lot of their political views. democrats have interests to protect and there is only one set of wings in the US government. its purple.

[@JunHector]

ok

[@OzCroc]

@@raycoverlounge We all know that lol

[@GriffintheGuy]

"The three true branches of government are military, corporate and Hollywood." -Hyde from That 70's Show

[@ФедяКрюков-в6ь]

More like 'the three true branches of corporate are government, military and Hollywood'

[@Kehwanna]

I've been to a few high school sports games that have a pro-military ceremony before the game where boards with silhouette paintings of jeeps and men with assault rifles are pulled onto the field before the national anthem, and a few schools, the pledge of the allegiance is performed. It's engrained itself so much in culture to the point that it's almost become tantamount to a religion. It's weird how people don't trust the government, yet get behind whatever the DOD says without question, or when the government finds a new enemy.

[@BassProFlops]

When you don't support politicians, people agree with you, but when you don't stand up for the pledge, people are furious with you.

[@jayliezambella]

Ur a correct infact ancient ppl's would consider it as a religion. Religio was to respect and have a moral behavior, to observe wat is sacred. Basically society of the US views the flag, the nation, and it's symbols as sacred. So, yes it is a religion

[@RevShifty]

It is very much like a secular religion. So much so that Religion for Breakfast, a channel based around religious scholarship, has done a small series on the 'American civil religion'. It's so pervasive that I'd go so far to say that most Americans don't even learn American history, as much as they're taught American mythology from a young age. It's maddening.

[@PixelSheep]

I'm honestly a bit surprised about this video - I mean it's good and probably important. *HOWEVER* as a European I always thought it's pretty much clear that when watching military movies (from the US especially) you are basically watching at least part propaganda. And no I am not surprised by the DOD sponsoring movies - I knew it and honestly thought most people would too - I mean oftentimes it's just ridiculous when the whole agenda or storyline of a movie is basically "The US bringing peace to everyone".

[@DonDadda45]

It's not so clear for the majority of people sadly

[@westtexas_4491]

As an American, war and military movies are seen as ways to see how heroic our military is and to appreciate out warriors oversees. Edit: Just to clarify I’m only saying what we are fed propaganda to believe, I understand this is false.

[@seancakin1469]

Well, given how many people worship the troops in America, I'm not surprised most Americans don't really realize this. Over here, if you go up to your average American and ask them about the military's war crimes and whether America should really spend that much on policing the entire world.... you'll probably get cussed out as the person tells you that America protects the freedom of everyone abroad and some other bs of how every single soldier is somehow personallu fighting for your freedom.

[@BrickworksDK]

It should be pretty clear to everyone, yes. But Americans are so brainwashed into worshipping the military that they can't, and won't, see what's right before their eyes.

[@reptarhouse]

Most Americans believe that ‘bringing peace to the world’ is America’s role in the world. And the war crimes we committed in Vietnam and Iraq and Afghanistan were blunders and outliers.

[@ashlyeziggy7984]

As a sociologist… this video is extremely true.

[@DonDadda45]

As a person.. this video is extremely true.

[@berdyderg900]

You don't have to spend 4+ years studying a fake science to realize this video is accurate lol

[@sirjamesgray]

@@berdyderg900 Marxism (true science) deals heavily with sociology (also true science lmfao) nerd

[@aetherkid]

@@berdyderg900 sociology isn't fake, dude

[@berdyderg900]

@@aetherkid it wasn't a personal insult. Yeah the field as a whole, much like psychology, is quacks circle jerking.

[@CommieApe]

Its really smart move making a video like this JT. A lot of the general audience don't know how Hollywood is funded by intelligence agencies in the military.

[@Praisethesunson]

Selling out to the imperial machine is good business practice. It's immoral and literally pushes imperialist propaganda on the ignorant rabble. But caring about that stuff doesn't fund the executive cocaine budget. So best to forget it.

[@Praisethesunson]

@@tuckerbugeater Lol you think they don't. Go check out smarter every day and see their pro U.S military vids. Brought to you by the Navy.

[@Praisethesunson]

@@fenraven "Support" in the since the money to fund your government is being spent for it. Your actual opinions of support on the matter aren't considered before the decision to do this funding of propaganda is made by your master class.

[@Praisethesunson]

@@user-oi6ec8ge4c The same way most of the rabble don't notice they can imagine the end of the world more easily than the end of Capitalism.

[@adampkalb]

@@Praisethesunson This is why, now more than ever, we need campaign reform to give us a say in how the government uses our money, because *our opinions need to matter! All lives matter.*

[@BassProFlops]

As a Muslim, I want to thank you so much for putting this information out there. I feel so horrible seeing the murder and war crimes against my brothers and sisters be swept under the rug while the same institutions murdering them are glorified. I have hope that more and more Americans can wake up to the propaganda they're being constantly being fed. God Bless.

[@GhostieTheML]

They won't wake up. It's literally impossible.

[@Joaking91]

They wont wake up but they will fade into irrelevance.

[@sushanalone]

Its very selfish to think about it only for your religion 'brothers'.

[@AvatarBowler]

@@user-oi6ec8ge4c What proof do you have that China and leftists in general hate Muslims? 🤨

[@BassProFlops]

@@sushanalone I don't think about it just for that, I'm also a human, but it hurts more when it's my people being treated so horribly so much. If your brother was murdered, I would feel bad because I'm a human, but you would feel even worse since he's your brother. Non-Muslims have also been abused so much by America and I'm definitely not denying that at all.

[@aldenheterodyne2833]

My family thinks I'm a bleeding heart hippie because I refused to get the military to pay for my college. When I was 18, I wanted to work on software for rockets, but I knew I didn't want to work on missiles or anything else that could be used as a weapon. My parents couldn't understand why I was so averse to getting government benefits and making things that would "save the lives of our soldiers". Now all I want is to not have my life's work kill people, and I want to make enough money that I can fill the bellies of people who didn't win the lottery of birth like I did. I got a job as a software developer for my state government, and I'm desperately hoping that I'm not made to do anything I consider immoral. I'm also hoping that my coworkers won't try to fire me once I come out as trans.

[@isa-morena]

I wish you good luck! It takes a lot of guts to stick to your morals.

[@slytherin_killjoy]

best of luck. I hope things go well with your coworkers

[@sushantmanandhar1387]

Good luck fam Remember, sticking to your morals is expensive, but selling your soul is even more so🫡

[@fireaza]

I wonder if your parents are aware that not sending them into wars is what would truly "save the lives of our soldiers"?

[@Emma-Maze]

It's been a while but best of luck with everything still

[@scar623]

“Each generation must discover their mission, fulfill it or betray it.” -Frantz Fanon

[@sushanalone]

We have managed to bungle it.

[@captain-chair]

Boomers had it in the first half...

[@entropicpedro]

Any Frantz Fanon quote is a banger...

[@thomaskole9881]

@@entropicpedro Anybody got some good reading recommendations from Fanon? I wanna educate myself on anti-colonialism/anti-imperialism and he seems like an interesting figure.

[@scar623]

@@thomaskole9881 Wretched Of The Earth by Frantz Fanon

[@profoundpronoun4712]

As a former Marine, I agree wholeheartedly. Well done

[@lennon999]

Damn

[@profoundpronoun4712]

@@user-oi6ec8ge4c I couldn’t agree more. I have nightmares still about what I saw and what I did. It is the greatest regret of my life. US imperialism needs to die.

[@henrycrabs3497]

@@user-oi6ec8ge4c taliban moment

[@profoundpronoun4712]

@@henrycrabs3497 not personally, no. Nor did I see any of my brother and sisters do that…but the drone strikes sure as hell do!

[@henrycrabs3497]

@@profoundpronoun4712 guilty by association

[@ethanpappas2502]

Interesting how the American obsession with war has polluted even the entertainment industry. Also (I've said this before) But I think a video about the awfulness of Ronald Reagan would be incredible. Also, keep it up with the Deprogram! :)

[@milehighgambler]

Reagan, Nixon, Bush, Clinton, all of them. Even Teddy Roosevelt

[@PremierCCGuyMMXVI]

@@milehighgambler true but I think the Roosevelts were the best. Lincoln and Washington were also good presidents. Eisenhower and Kennedy as well but that’s about it and even those men had many flaws which I acknowledge.

[@milehighgambler]

@@PremierCCGuyMMXVI I used to think Roosevelt was a Saint, until I realized he was the reason central America, and South America was destabilized, and are the sole purpose as to why corporate corruption and lobbyists run rampant in today's world.

[@grmpEqweer]

Yes! I want a Reagan takedown!

[@ethanpappas2502]

@@milehighgambler Teddy was flawed in many ways. It was much more Wilson who started the whole "Corporations control Latin America" thing, but Teddy Certainly was not helping to stabilize the region. Still, breaking up monopolies and encouraging unions was pretty based. Not nearly as good as FDR though(Even FDR admitedly had pretty major issues)

[@justinbremer2281]

My parents met in the US Army, I was born an army brat (but they got out before my first birthday). They resolutely would NOT allow me to watch G.I. Joe as a child in the 80's.

[@WorldGovernmentGeoInstitut]

I swear anything related to action aimed at kids and teenagers is police and military propaganda in some way, shape or form. Anyone could name a franchise and I'll be able to point out how it is, they won't be able to come up with a response.

[@milansvancara]

@@WorldGovernmentGeoInstitut propaganda is by definition a propaganda only if it's intentional. Seems like most people in the comment section including author of this video are not aware of this. If it's just an unintentional glorification of something, mostly simply just because of a profit because there is a particular audience that loves that one particular topic, it's not a propaganda. And there is a huge difference...

[@WorldGovernmentGeoInstitut]

@@milansvancara What particular topic though? Things like Rambo or GI Joe are clearly propaganda, profit motive or otherwise.

[@milansvancara]

​@@WorldGovernmentGeoInstitut I see what you mean. I wouldn't really add Rambo into 2022 argument with title ''Is Hollywood selling us propaganda'' since its really dated, and I didn't see GI Joe, but I think my statement is still valid. It would be a propaganda if it was: - exclusively financed by government - made on behalf of government to propagate a topic - distributed to people by government - presented in state-owned media - presented in state-owned TV - openly glorified by government - side criticizing the movie would be ridiculed/persecuted For example ''The birth of the nation'' was racist movie and we can say that it was anti-black propaganda, since it was glorified by some state representatives president included and there was such a huge demographic economic margin at the time that many black people couldn't even afford to see the movie to defend themselves and afroamerican community definitely didn't have funds to produce their own movie. If it's not the case it's just produced because uneducated bottom half of population adore thematics like war, patriotism, fighting, etc... and yes, circumstances surrounding the whole movie matter a lot. For example when such a movie is produced in Russia (and they do have many similar movies with russian protagonist and west antagonists), they get very often financed by government and are played directly on main times in state owned TV and adored over and over by representatives. When you add censorship of other western movies/games (which is happening there often also), then it's a textbook propaganda.

[@WorldGovernmentGeoInstitut]

@@milansvancara But it only reinforces a view that is preached in a certain society and aids the government. Of course this isn't the literal case for "propaganda", but they are enabling such a system, or even endorsing it, that's why we call it propaganda, eventhough it's not financed by the government at all, the people that watch those types of entertainment media are already programmed to like that or are useful out of ignorance.

[@imnolongerasking5933]

Pixar's A Bug's Life is the best war movie in American history. It portrays topics such as foreign aid, hearts and minds, deception, extortion, atrocity, resistance to unruly authority, and body positivity.

[@infinitebombdog]

"Spot the Propaganda" is a great drinking game to play on movie night 😀

[@widdershins5383]

Not if you wanna live to see the next day lol it’s literally everything lol

[@infinitebombdog]

@@widdershins5383 nah you just end up tapped out before the halfway mark 😅😅

[@Kehwanna]

You'll be dead by the end of the movies: -Red Dawn -Battlefield L.A -That one really Godzilla remake where Godzilla is killed in NYC. -Transformers -Olympus Has Fallen Though to be fair, the US isn't the only pumping out these kinds of films.

[@americancommunist6076]

I tried to get through transformers... I forgot what I did that week and woke up in a bosnian sheep farm

[@maudley]

I guess the drunker you get, the harder it gets to spot, at least

[@gohanblanco5641]

Even American comics such as the old marvel comics featuring Captain America contained Imperialist and Anti-Communist Propaganda.

[@SlowpokeSpartan]

They did sorta retcon this by saying that the captain America in the 50s and 90s was a evil imposter while the actual one was still trapped in ice

[@roycereeves5456]

Well to be fair when tens of millions of people die to communism I wouldn't be pro communism either lol. More people died to Stalin and Mao Zedong than imperialism. Both are bad but the truth is Captain America would never be for either one. That is something so well tackled in the films. The concept that he stands for freedom not for government agendas

[@FlauFly]

@@roycereeves5456 Are you sure about your calculations? I'm pretty sure that capitalist imperialism easily won with death counts with Stalin and Mao Zedong combined.

[@Chrisko1492]

@@roycereeves5456 You might want to check your facts again, because imperialism has DEFINITELY killed much much more people than communism. I mean, communism doesn‘t even exist that long. Also, it‘s not communism that killed people - it was the dictatorships. Also, the point is, that the american goverment has brainwashed you, the american public, into thinking that communism is bad - NOT because it is actually bad (although I personally wouldn‘t want to live in one - because I‘m rich, lol), but because the Soviets were the enemy and they happened to be communists. If it were the other way around, if the US were communist and the Soviets were capitalists, every american today would call capitalism evil and communism awesome. You guys have no opinions, you just repeat what your country has spoonfed you for decades. That‘s why you say things like „thank you for your service“ to soldiers. Why do you do that? Exactly, because you are trained to do that. Like dogs, performing a trick.

[@billieeisenhower406]

@@SlowpokeSpartan 😳

[@fuglong]

Have you ever considered creating a video about the most likely scenarios in which the general public actually wakes up as a whole? Do we have any chance to quickly shed decades of imperialist and neo-liberal propaganda, especially in the older generations?

[@AsobiMedio]

At this point, the oldest generation(boomers) will be dead long before they shed their brainwashing. Gen X still has a chance though.

[@mekannatarry1929]

There's a chance, but it would take generations.

[@andyshelly3473]

@@AsobiMedio its all about indoctrination josef geobles ministry of truth style of propaganda is extreemly powerful to the human psychi . we have to cut it off at the source .

[@christopherchilton-smith6482]

The situation is bleak, I mean have you gone over the numbers for how many people voted for Trump? Look at how we even consider Democrats to be a "center" left party when they are actually conservatives. The brainwashing is so thorough, so deeply embedded that our only real hope is to relentlessly educate the youth while trying to minimize the damage Republicans and Democrats do. If Second Thought did a video on this it would be super depressing, the cards are stacked heavily against any such awakening happening anytime soon.

[@FixNewsPlease]

Neo-liberal? 😂🤣

[@blueshell292]

I don’t know how well the new movie version of All Quiet On The Western Front is faring propaganda-wise, but the old movie version as well as the book itself, of course, are excellent examples for anti-war war media. I remember reading it in its original German when I was, what, 14? and damn did it shake me to my core. Of course, it was written by a WWI veteran, so that dude knew what was up. I'm glad it got a remake. And I hope it did its job well.

[@GenophefeElisabeth]

The new movie isn't a Hollywood production afaik

[@Ninja-gt3zi]

@@GenophefeElisabeth nope why its so good.

[@blueshell292]

That is most wonderful to hear

[@KashNoK]

@@blueshell292 just finished watching it an hour ago. The whole time I was watching I just kept thinking to myself "This is fucking horrible, no human being should ever go through this."

[@jesustovar2549]

Some of the soldier extras in the 1930 All Quiet On The Western Front were actually WW1 veterans, which makes it more historically authentic and interesting.

[@juliekersten6050]

I watched your military recruiting video a while back. I am a secretary in a high school guidance office and I set up appointments for recruiters to come to the high school and have a table to promote the military to students. They always ask me for a list of students names and addresses especially Juniors and seniors. I have never felt comfortable giving that out and was just giving them the names but one recruiter pushed back on me and said where's the addresses and phone numbers. After speaking with our head counselor it turns out we're required by law to give student information to the military for recruiting purposes. I don't really agree with that. I don't mind them setting up a table during lunch to promote it but it seems unfair to allow them such direct access to student personal information. In New York state, online apps have to comply with not selling student information yet the military can come in and ask for it at any time.

[@juliekersten6050]

@@ANDROLOMA I totally agree. When I didn't send a full name list the first time. The recruiter noted at the bottom of his email that he could get this information according to a certain statute.

[@thekancerwithin]

Please do "mind" them setting up their table as well. They are an arm of a mass murder machine that must be stopped at all costs.

[@RedWinePlease]

It's like jury duty. It's mandatory that someone must fulfill the lawful American jurisprudence requirement for jurors. Unless we disband the miltary, make it unconstitutional, there will be a need for conscripts or volunteers. Else, how does our govt fulfill it's duties? For the military it's those in their Sr year of HS.

[@fedupN]

This reminds of a phone call i had in high school. Circa early 2000s. Age of landlinea still. Got a call. Said it was for ne. I answer, dude acts like he knows me, knew my name after all and my number. Figured maybe a dudw from class. Nope. After a whole song and dance, misleading statements and nonsense, a statement about video games led into "you know whats like video games? Joining the military." I rememberijg laughing my ass off and hanging up the phone. Its disgusting.

[@Kortonox]

This is not the first time I heard about this. Im from Germany and there is a German KZbinr called "simplicissimus". He did a Video on this exact topic talking about how Hollywood includes US military propaganda that gets shipped to other countries like Germany and which effects it has on other countries. It paints the image that the US military is always the good guy, the saviour, or atleast well meaning.

[@grmpEqweer]

Yeah, we're an empire. ☹️ I hate this for moral and financial reasons.

[@DonDadda45]

But never forget Simplicissimus is also just a dirty neoliberal who gets paid by the Government media agencies to cover certain topics in very specific ways. Some of their videos are just as much propaganda. They used to be good before they sold themselves out though, their old videos aren't bad.

[@elponchex]

A few years after WW2 there were polls in France showing that the french considered that mainly the russians had defeated the nazis. 40 Years later the same polls were showing most people to consider it was the US, I guess because of how it is depicted media.

[@Dragonlochd0815]

@@DonDadda45 Which videos are propaganda?

[@DonDadda45]

@@Dragonlochd0815 many of those they released in the last 1-2 years

[@leonidas14775]

The US has always been imperialist, since before it was known as the United States. The problem most Americans have is imperialism at the expense of the needs and quality of life for citizens.

[@krynetik]

Reminds me of the Imperial/Foucault’s Boomerang effect. Empires use colonized states as testing labs for methods of subjugation which are then imported back to the Imperial heartland to be used on their own population.

[@timsmith854]

My grandfather suffered from PTSD due to atrocities he witnessed in a POW camp during WW2, only finding peace from those memories {hopefully} at the age of 94 - when he passed away. This is the true legacy of war. And it is seldomly depicted by Hollywood.

[@cupcakesfanficgameslover5792]

I have a friend who served and she suffers from PTSD her husband also my friend says she wakes up screaming

[@timsmith854]

@@cupcakesfanficgameslover5792 I am really sorry to hear that. It is not pity I feel for her- it is genuine compassion. Let's hope that she is getting some support.

[@LeoMkII]

Oh no, it's depicted by hollywood, just that apparently only american soldiers are humans

[@ViraL_FootprinT.ex.e]

Jacobin's issue on the military industrial complex, from 2018 or 2019, had a good article that went over many classic military movies that got the approval from that special part of the DOD that authorizes and oversees how the military is portrayed in movies. Plus it showed which movies were denied for special working relationships with the military. Maybe even the reasons why they were denied. But to get a little personal... Ngl, _Blackhawk Down_ & _We Were Soldiers_ were incredibly influential in me joining the army after impulsively dropping out of college as a teenager. By the time the first _Transformers_ came out years later, after I'd already done an unnecessary deployment in an unnecessary war (which are almost all unnecessary btw) in Iraq, I was so disgusted with just the blatant, over-the-top military propaganda in the movie. It was such an obvious military recruitment video. I guess by that point, besides being disillusioned with the wars we were in, I was also a little older and sniffing out bs was a little easier. Not that _Transformers_ made it that hard to do so with it's gratuitous flag humping and MIC propaganda.

[@Abshir1it1is]

Blackhawk Down was always a delightful showing of the lies, hypocrisies and propaganda of Hollywood. There was a part where they saved a woman and her children from the "bad guys" in the movie, where in real life, they used them as meat shields to escape the "bad guys". The movie was simultaneously hilarious and infuriating in it's depiction of my country.

[@chagoriver7159]

jacobin pushes a lot of imperialist propaganda for the state dept.

[@estacion7386]

I loved "independence day" when i was a kid, "joining all forces to face a common foe" then the sequel came and holy smooch , it was an air force recruitment xD also spiderman and man of steel, the way they show the american flag is hilarious

[@anarchomando7707]

This is why I prefer the cartoon at the very least it's trying to sell" freedom is the right of all sentient beings"however using using kids toys and not bombs and grenades

[@explosivemodesonicmauricet1597]

@@estacion7386 At least ID didn't actually portraying other nations as bad guys.

[@sobanya_228]

As a Russian, I'm shocked how much propaganda American people are exposed to daily.

[@davidbowles7281]

We're the best at it

[@ertobert3459]

Dude have you seen Russian movies? Let alone movies, ever watched Russian TV? I mean to say that you are not in a position to be "shocked by the amount of propaganda"...

[@wulfw.8452]

CIA and MI6 all connected to the 5 eye countries.

[@americancommunist6076]

@@ertobert3459 bitch they make ww2 movies because they CARRIED THE WAR! and you assume massive propaganda, but do you have any evidence for such, did you ever look it up before? You are blinded by your own propaganda. Russia definitely has propaganda, but it is pathetic when compared to the US'. Hell, it would make the nazis cream their pants.

[@exu7325]

@@ertobert3459 You're not reading his comment properly. He means that *EVEN* the USA is worse than his country in the propaganda department. Your kneejerk reaction is kind of ironic actually.

[@apoco_lips9957]

I love this video, I have a friend I want to share it with who would agree with the majority of the video but he will literally shit his pants the second you say "Marxist" and you said it so soon into the video lol. Sometimes I want to edit your videos to remove the words I know will trigger my right wing friends and fam, have the watch and love the video, then show them the unedited version XD

[@SecondThought]

Go right ahead! Whatever you think will be most helpful

[@infinitebombdog]

A sanitized version for those too deep in the propaganda 😀

[@wedidntstartthefire1]

@@SecondThought It's not a bad idea, Marxists does have an inherent sting to it in the anglosphere. It's usually best just to explain your ideas without any broad/swweping labels or terms.

[@SecondThought]

Nah, I’m going to keep making my content the way I feel is best for my audience. I have enough data to convince me that it works. I’m all for viewers making their own “theatrical releases” though!

[@vxicepickxv]

@@infinitebombdog I believe it's called "soft language".

[@TheMightyShell]

Dude I've been watching you since you were a bit of a lib. And you just keep getting better and better. I really love your account and how you use those 1.2 million subscribers. I knew you were legit once you posted that "CIA is a terrorist organization" video and had the visit. Solidarity comrade.

[@SecondThought]

Thanks so much!

[@abaddonthearmless319]

Soviet larper. Your ideology put my people in camps.

[@johnwalker1058]

I think an interesting aspect/angle of America's obsession with war and the military is how it intersects with Christian culture. Growing up Christian, I remember plenty of bible stories, Sunday school lessons, and sermons being about "onward Christian soldiers," and "fighting in the Lord's army," "being a warrior for Christ," etc. Not every single one was about war or loaded with talk about winning battles or slaying enemies, but a significant portion of it was. There are plenty of war analogies relating to bettering oneself as a Christian or sanctifying oneself by fighting against one's 'sinful urges' in "spiritual warfare." This is especially true if you get into evangelical theological literature. There's the "spiritual war" of humanity against demons, "culture war," of Christians against the "sinful, worldly nonbelievers" etc. There's also whitewashing of the Hebrew people's conquests in the land of Canaan, like in the book of Joshua for example, that justify genocides of local tribes or kingdoms because "well God said we could have this land," and there's a whole can of worms you could get into with the book of Revelation and their focus on war with the battle of Armageddon and everything. Then in the New Testament, when Christians don't focus on the gospels or Revelation, and they get into Paul's letters, they may frequently touch up on Ephesians because that is the one that mentions a description of "The Armor of God" comparing certain godly attributes to parts of a roman soldier's armor, which again, ties back to the whole "spiritual warfare" thing. Anyway, I could go on and on, but basically, (and this could be in part due to the strong interconnectedness between American Christians, particularly evangelicals, and conservative culture), but there really is a lot of obsession about war with many American Christians.

[@veganessence5270]

Excellent comment!! Most wars in the West have a Christian crusades vibe to them

[@imlivingunderyourbed7845]

@@veganessence5270 Especially when the recent enemies of the US are usually Muslims

[@down-to-earth-mystery-school]

Once I asked my ex-father in law who served in the military and was also an evangelical Christian, if it was acceptable to kill other people during war. He answered of course, then I said, what do the Ten Commandments say about killing? Thou shalt not kill. There was no exception clause, it was plain and simple, don’t kill other humans for any reason. He got angry because it upset his worldview of being a defender of our country, when in fact he was training young men to lose their limbs and lives so a few wealthy people could get wealthier….

[@pointblank2890]

It's horrifying how Evangelical Christianity in America is so wholly warlike and dominating Jesus, in his entire life as portrayed in the Bible, advocated and practiced nothing but pacifism and forgiving others. A prime example of this being the night of his arrest, one of his disciples tried to defend him and cut off one of the arresting party member's ear. Jesus immediately healed that man's ear and chastised his disciple for resorting to violence, and getting in the way of His ultimate mission on earth. The only time he expressed violent anger was his destruction of the stalls (and not the people) selling outside of the Temple So it's absolutely *nuts* to see all these "Warriors for the Lord" and "Christian Soldiers" appropriating the lies of sin into a form that makes them feel like they're in the right. Like holy crap guys, if there's a war to fight, it's the spiritual warfare against the Satan and against sin--and that is accomplished through following the word of God, the teachings of Christ, and loving thy neighbor

[@minihunt4093]

My whole life I wanted to join the Army and go over seas and fight. That's how effective the propaganda was.. I went to prison and couldn't serve.. still every 6 months I would but a recruiter to see if it was possible or the laws changed. I even prayed for a major engagement in another country that would force the US to recruit me in desperation.. my whole family has always served. It has been a tradition however my dad was different he did it to survive and take care of me a kid out of wedlock. I love him for that,he served 10 years during "Desert Storm". He got out as soon as he could and always tried to discourage me from joining. I could never figure out why and we always fought. 10 years ago I had an awaken of sorts and became a socialist.. and immediately saw the horror in the US Army.. I can't believe I once beg and prayed to serve and fight for greedy rich men... Haha

[@RajShekhar-jy2zi]

Great life experience my friend

[@belluh-1huey102]

You will be fighting for the rich men regardless as that fighting for in your head, would be fighting to protect the enemy literally bombing your country and livelihood.

[@minihunt4093]

@@belluh-1huey102 what!? That why no one should join the army or fight in rich men wars...

[@belluh-1huey102]

@@minihunt4093 no no no, what I mean is, you're gonna fight their war regardless as you're gonna have to protect your family from foreign invaders.

[@belluh-1huey102]

@@minihunt4093 btw if the army is too weak, it's very open to getting invaded, and then we would be suddenly supporting the army because we are getting invaded. I'd rather keep the enemy off the shores.

[@ellodianlamb]

Great video.This kind of military propaganda can also be applied to video games. Not sure by how much compared to movies, but it’s there.

[@brettmurr4525]

Definitely. See: call of duty

[@untraceablefgc-9mkii251]

Yeah it's the case all the same actually, military has advisors even for game studios, big example Is the CoD series.

[@FranzNF]

@@ChaineticsYT Yeah, whitewashing war criminal marine corps and rewiting historic events to depict the blame of the atrocities on a different country instead of the US is totally honest.

[@ChaineticsYT]

@@FranzNF Because the US started the Vietnam war, bombed Japanese cities, threatened nuclear warfare onto soviet union, bombing the middle east, etc. The US most of the time is not innocent and sometimes are the biggest threat in wars

[@georgekostaras]

Oliver north was the creative director of a bunch of Cod games

[@tahashabbir9663]

As a Indian living in middle east, I thought this was suprissing I thought it was obvious that American military will try everything to show them in good light but reading the comment section made me realise maybe its not that obvious.

[@TerribleTom113]

As an American, we're so heavily propagandized that the vast majority of people can't even see it anymore. I was 27 when I started becoming radicalized, and prior to that, it never clicked that it was all propaganda.

[@taylorwhite2177]

Independence Day had DOD support pulled because Area 51 was in the script. Then Obama joked about Area 51, declassified it, and Independence Day 2 became a long form recruiting ad.

[@AndDiracisHisProphet]

really? i always thought independence day was THE archetypical propaganda movie! (i am not an american, though)

[@jovicamateric7756]

I remember going to the US once with my family, I was like 11. When we got to the hotel I started watching TV and didn't think much when I saw army recruitment adds on both Cartoon Network and Adult Swim. Looking back, at the time I didn't think much of it, but now I realize that it was indoctrination.

[@emptyblank099a]

Every country has this though how else are you going to get kids to join your army? lol

[@johnlyndonescario419]

​@@emptyblank099aBut US have it worst tbh. Imagine doing it massively but thinks if others do it it's not normal lol.

[@Uros141]

​@@emptyblank099a "Every country has this, though" is a shitty way of justification. Just because you see it in other countries, does not make it right. That's like saying, "Well, racism is bad, but racism exists everywhere". It's downplaying the problem, shit brain.

[@billmozart7288]

I guess that's why Stanley Kubrick filmed his satirical military films in England

[@mrballs8091]

There are 2 types of people who never regret joining military. 1 - Those who never battled, got all the perks and are well looked after and were lucky enough to stay in the bubble they signed up for and enlisted. 2 - Those who join to actually defend their nation (those on recieving end of invading force, not other way around Unfortunately everyone else gets short end of the stick and regret their decision bec they have seen the reality of war and the lies that put them there. Source ? Me - someone who lived under illegal Israeli occupation (Lebanon) and someone who has been on receiving end of invasions and military offensives and experienced war first hand as a civilian

[@halinaqi2194]

I dont think american soldiers were deployed defensively at all in recent history. I think the last time they actually fought in the us was in their civil war.

[@Steve_McMillen]

I never considered the way war is portrayed in US made movies to be some form of propaganda. But watching this now, it actually makes total sense! What an eye opener!

[@riocannistrano756]

Back in the day Reagan used to.pump out propaganda for dod/war. inc. during ww2 .

[@DPowered2]

We murder people left and right with less than 30% terrorists accuracy and often kill people for no reason. So yeah we are not the good guys.

[@felipenunes5240]

@@vyros.3234 Can't speak for all countries, but at least here in Brazil we have almost no movies portraying our military in a positive light, even in regards to past wars, like our participation on WW2 or the Paraguay War. It's much more common to portray them negatively in literature, as we had a lot of popular rebellions throughout the last three centuries, and they are always the villains; and also in movies and series about the military dictatorship period (that the US promoted and backed, by the way)

[@DonDadda45]

@@vyros.3234 No, they don't. Besides China or Russia I literally never saw another country do it like this.

[@투루-l3e]

@@vyros.3234 where do you live?

[@krzysztofstepniewski5048]

By the way, it's important to remember that during 1 World War us government decided to ship troops despite the ongoing Flu pandemic, which directly contributed to the development of the most lethal mutations thanks to the conditions in the trenches.

[@matthewfusaro2590]

Not to mention the brilliant generals decided to keep fighting right up to the very last minute of the war...10,000 died for absolutely no reason at all.

[@sriharshaa3780]

One of my favorite movies, Starship Troopers, works really well as a satire of the military jingoism seen in a lot of other American movies

[@adamromero]

I love Starship Troopers!

[@americancommunist6076]

its very clever in that, especially since the book for it made it pro-imperialism and whatnot.

[@Josh-99]

I remember the scene in Winter Soldier when Captain America sees the fleet of Sky Carriers and learns that they are designed to be "preventative" -- an armada of invisible superweapons with advanced surveillance packages that can "stop threats before they happen". Captain America notes that they are talking about extrajudicial assassinations and Nick Fury makes mention that it's no different from what America is already doing, just at a larger scale. It's also about peace, after all. Captain America is disgusted. What struck me as strange is that the scene made it into the movie at all, because we all know that if America could actually get its hands on that kind of technology it would be deployed in a heartbeat. Everyone knows it too, and the fictitious stand-in for America's non-existent heart and soul (Captain America) protesting Nick Fury's words didn't really stick with anyone I know, even among my right-wing friends. You see, if there is one thing that both the left and the right can agree on, it's that America LOVES to overuse its military. The people in power do not care one bit about the will of the American people when it comes to application of extrajudicial violence, and it's become so normal to just "accidentally" kill innocent bystanders with drone strikes (thanks, Obama!) that it doesn't even make the news when it happens anymore; It's just another day on planet Earth.

[@rickb3650]

"we all know that if America could actually get its hands on that kind of technology it would be deployed in a heartbeat" We have it and we use it every day all over the world. It is pervasive. We call it by relatively benign names like smart phone and drone, but they exist and are frighteningly effective.

[@winsonzhu4427]

@@rickb3650 not superweapon tier, but I guess that pre-existing technology made bigger and scarier is literally what makes those movie weapons "super" - we're already deploying the non-super versions.

[@OzCroc]

The real question is why do you have right wing friends?

[@lyokianhitchhiker]

@@winsonzhu4427 This is a preemptive. A 6-barrel coach gun that fires all at once is a super weapon.

[@flask223]

@@OzCroc true

[@CyclingMartialartswithMusic]

America sure love their war movies. Especially the one that make them look holy and righteous.

[@rotraven]

Imagine if Hollywood made a franchise like Advance Wars where the characters are happy anime characters excited for their first war like it was their first day of high school.

[@themolasser9110]

See all quiet on the western front Also bad analogy, no one is excited for their first day of high school

[@lyokianhitchhiker]

@@themolasser9110depends on the person.

[@rilke3266]

If another country did this, we would call it propaganda. In the U.S., we call it patriotism. How far lost have we become to not see our media for what it is.

[@troyjardine5850]

Between you, Just Write, and Pop Culture Detective, I'm glad to see this subject discussed more! I find it ironic how so many are willing to call out Chinese Cinema for "taking bribes from the People's Liberation Army" or calling movies like Wolf Warrior "pro-CCP propaganda", but so unwilling to call out the DoD and Pentagon for doing the same things.

[@americancommunist6076]

I can't believe china does a korean war movie about their divisions beating the best army in the world, and gets screamed at. But USA having a bunch about blowing up farmers and glossing over countless war crimes, and its seen as normal and unworthy of debating.

[@guy-sl3kr]

It's American projection as usual. 99% of the time you hear Americans chastising China, it's for something that the US is guilty of themselves. Blaming foreign countries for all of our domestic problems is basically our national pastime.

[@blitzn00dle50]

And yet despite how much pro-us propaganda there is in Hollywood, people claim that Turning Red is pandering to the CCP because there's Chinese style buildings in it. The degree to which the US populace has been deceived is incredible

[@youngeddo3447]

Literally thought the same thing when I saw the title of the video.. China and the USA are more similar than they make us believe

[@themolasser9110]

@@americancommunist6076 since when has no one batted an eye over the US involvement in Vietnam. It’s literally their most hated war

[@snowmanplayer4424]

happy new year JT, thanks for making the pandemic a whole lot more bearable for me and for showing America's true colors :> I'm looking forward to your videos every Friday and I'm glad you didn't skip this one just because it's the 31st

[@SecondThought]

Thanks so much! I’ve made that one-per-week commitment, so the videos will come out no matter what holidays they land on 😁

[@nobodyspecial2053]

The people behind Revolutionary blackout outright say that the u.s. is most propagandize country in the world, and it is hard to disagree once you realize it. Speaking of propaganda could you and your buddies Hakim and Yugopnik talk about propaganda in regards to China, both from the USA point of view and just as importantly the Chinese one so that we can get a clear picture on the truth without immediately defaulting to the counter narrative which may be propaganda and its own right.

[@Joaking91]

@@user-oi6ec8ge4c mainstream media is doing that already. Why do you want one of the few venues thst criticize the US to do that too? Wanna decrease the plurality of opinions?

[@transsylvanian9100]

@@user-oi6ec8ge4c they deny it because China is doing no such thing. it's amazing how you refuse to even entertain the thought that maybe it's YOU who is wrong on this and that this idea has only been planted in your head by the propagandistic western media but hey i'm sure siding with imperialist atrocity propaganda against US rivals that is used to justify sanctions and interventions will turn out well THIS time. sure they were lying about WMD's in Iraq but this time it's different right? they wouldn't lie twice...

[@transsylvanian9100]

@@CulturalMarxist4985 Everything you said about Uyghurs in China is a lie propagated by western media. There is no forced labor. China will be the first country to achieve full communism, and their BRI is essential to the destruction of imperialism and the uplifiting of the global south.

[@WorldGovernmentGeoInstitut]

@@CulturalMarxist4985 I've seen your comments on other comment threads here. Let me just chime in if I may. I think some of you utopia socialists need to drop the whole "tankie" word as a slur, it means nothing. Many of us have embraced the word with pride and it's kinda nonsensical that utopian socialists and ultras call dengists "tankies" when they clearly aren't.

[@WorldGovernmentGeoInstitut]

@@CulturalMarxist4985 I mean, there will always be people who will be reactionary and start boycotting and undermining movements, to those I'm fine with using violence to oppose them if necessary. I'm not a pacifist and to pretend people will just get along (as if they do now) is insencere, hence why I'm saying it has no meaning. Therefore it's ok to embrace the word tankie. I am a tankie.

[@TianZhaoHeavenlyFortune]

I'm sure ppl have said this to you before, but your work is so damn important and don't you forget that! I say this not only because I'm a Chinese person who's grown up in the West (Canada) and am sick & tired of all the anti-China propaganda of the West... but because I'm a Christian and I see your content as being a force for good in this world! There exists not only is physical warfare but in my heart of hearts I truly believe that physical warfare is only a manifestation of spiritual warfare. Therefore, the spiritual warfare that I see waged by the Almighty-Dollar worshiping American Empire against those who simply dream for a better life in this world is one I know God is not happy with. God however gave us free will which is why I believe He's imbued people such as yourself to do what you do! You may not believe it yourself, but I see you as doing God's work! So thank you very much and keep it up please! Though I pray for the day you won't have to keep it up because your work will have had the intended positive impact in this world! Happy New Year to you good sir!

[@SecondThought]

Thank you for your support!

[@urnansflipflop7894]

@@dylanbuchanan6511 🤦

[@ЛеонидСемёнов-у4ь]

@@user-oi6ec8ge4c Well it because nothing of that is wrong or immoral. Stop justifying your genocidal empire with "just as bad" bullshit, China is better than US in every possible way.

[@TianZhaoHeavenlyFortune]

@@user-oi6ec8ge4c "sighs"... I call this "American Fragility" similar to "White Fragility". Whenever someone criticizes America, Americans such as yourself (unlike Second Thought and others) always have to bring up "well other governments or such and such government is just as bad”, despite the fact that: a) a lot of these 'bad governments' are propped up by the CIA/US-government and their allies OR very simply put a lot of these ‘bad governments’ only exist due to Western/European Colonialism. b) some of the narratives around these 'bad governments' are from an American/Western propagandized/biased lens so there's half-truths there at best, and/or c) all these 'bad governments' pale in comparison to the sheer size, scope, and scale of how 'bad' the American government is at a global-level... "sighs"

[@Emi-jh7gf]

@@user-oi6ec8ge4c What exactly do you think China did in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Xinjiang that is immoral?

[@oceanthresher6184]

Fun fact: George Lucas once said that Soviet movie writers had more artistic freedom than those in the US.

[@americancommunist6076]

Of course they did! But everyone ignores the sheer amount of culture from the soviet union and the warsaw pact, due to their biases.

[@crossch3720]

The problem is how when you try to talk to someone about this sort of thing they'll react with things like "it's just a movie" or "don't take it so seriously", it's hard to acknowledge the effect propaganda has on us because let's be real, who would want to admit they've already been brainwashed?

[@17-MASY]

‏‪10:40

[@noneofyourbusiness3288]

I love that the same people complaining that "the woke mob controls the media" would never ever mention who really uses popular media for propaganda.

[@the-Albino-Rhino]

Who gets catered to MORE in the media: some military movie, or the LGBT community? We have entire shows based on the LGBT community, whereas the military gets only a niche portion of the market.

[@WorldGovernmentGeoInstitut]

@@the-Albino-Rhino Irrelevant. The LGBT community don't go around killing lots of people and disrupting other nations, the military though... Either way, we've got the military and the intelligence community using pseudo-progressive rhetoric to prop up the military anyway, the focus is just wrong.

[@adamcastro7880]

@@the-Albino-Rhino bozo

[@explosivemodesonicmauricet1597]

@@the-Albino-Rhino Did you just see the video from A to Z? COD:I do not exist?

[@MrLyren]

My reaction as a german to the realization that movies are also propaganda. *Gasp* You dont say

[@goeegoanna]

What grates me is how they so freely change history to make others' accomplishments their own. U-571 and Argo come to mind.

[@hogndog2339]

Or like how Call of Duty: Modern Warfare turned real life US war crimes into Russian ones in the game

[@Jedi_Vigilante]

Conservatives like to say that the military is a vital part of our nation's economy, and shouldn't be cut because it will hurt people. Conservatives like to say that corporations are a vital part of our nation's economy, and we should bail them out whenever they make poor decisions that would destroy them otherwise. Conservatives also like to say that Medicare, Social Security, and Welfare are drains on our economy and the government shouldn't be in the business of just giving people money. Conservatives also like to say that people should just work harder, not take risks, not make mistakes, because if they do the government won't bail them out for making poor decisions that destroy themselves. You see the problem here? I have no problem with the majority of U.S. soldiers. Many, if not most, joined up either out of a patriotic sense of duty or financial desperation, and I can sympathize with both. However, the Military Industrial Complex and the Pentagon are completely different beasts. They twist the military institutions that are supposed to be about protecting your loved ones from the aggression of foreign powers and turn them into thugs for U.S. business interests. I'd also have no problem with the vast amount of resources that are dumped into the military rather than more humanitarian projects...if more of it actually went to the soldiers or civilians who work closely with the soldiers. The problem is that most of that money goes straight into the pockets of the MIC and Pentagon brass, with another large chunk of it going to holding military bases in other parts of the world that are strictly about maintaining political hegemonic rule for the benefit of U.S. business interests.

[@genieglasslamp5028]

I think the horror genre has alot of very interesting takes when war meets horror. War is already a scary concept in and if itself but adding supernatural horror elements on top of that is even worse. Especially when any army is involved. Its common to see governments and militaries abandoning poor civilians in senarios like an apocalypse in favor of protecting the rich and powerful. Almost like that happens literally all the time in the real world.

[@imatreebelieveme6094]

Less "abandoning" and more "invading their countries and slaughtering them". Vietnam had to fight a whole war against the US so it could get to own its lands. Check out Luna's videos on how Vietnamese socialism developed after the war: kzbin.info/www/bejne/o37Yk4Ktaq1gr9E

[@genieglasslamp5028]

@@imatreebelieveme6094 The reason i use abandoning is because thats what ive experienced first hand. Me and my family were victims of hurricane Katrina and lost everything. But before that we were pooor. And after the hurricane we became homeless. It became very clear to not just us but other peoppe in our situation, the government did not give two shits about us. Predominantly black and poor neighborhoods were given the least amount rescue attention, clean water, food, you name it. And our neighborhoods were basically left out of rescue plans entirely. Poor people who were trapped on their roofs had to wait days for rescue. Theres plenty of documentaries about how poor people were basically left in the dust after the hurricane. I see this same sentiment in plenty of apocalyptic horror stories. The rich all the attention while the poor are left in the dust. My favorite franchise that puts this sentiment front and center are the Purge movies.

[@edgardavid1653]

Got any recommendations? I don't remember ever seeing war movies with explicit supernatural terror in them.

[@blackenpowerment0140]

Now do "birth of a nation", slavery, Jim Crow laws, black codes, the prison industrial complex and Hollywood.

[@4GNG]

Pretty sure he already did the prison industrial complex

[@somethingisnotrighthere3831]

@@pampachakraborty8309 lol 😂

[@blackenpowerment0140]

@@4GNG Thanks.

[@kaptinmxdnite7177]

The fact that he has over a million followers does give me some hope

[@SoB413]

Absolutly epic video!!!! THANK YOU! As a european I grew up with the US propaganda and believed that crap...After seeing what US troops do abroad I had to question a staple of my upbringing: the US couldn't do wrong and only do "the right thing" Keep your great work going mate👍

[@DonDadda45]

Some European countries do similar shit too. Germany in recent years made some BIG funded projects military propaganda. They made recruitment and battle in a warfare seem like some cool vacation with your friends. They even had their programes at completely unrelated events like gaming conventions, propably to prey on people with no goal in life. We aren't as brainwashed though so most people simply laughed at that shit, but a couple people still fall for it.

[@SoB413]

@@DonDadda45 Yeah, Ive seen the posters in "Rewe" and around the city🤮 I did a few years there and the time changed me seriously!! Went for strongly conservative to communist in 6 months🤣 If the world spent 10% of the global war budget on infrastrcture we would have ended poverty and stupidity (schooling for EVERYONE free of charge.)

[@americancommunist6076]

europe profits from that. Norway bombed libya to make way for its business ventures.

[@milansvancara]

@@DonDadda45 This didn't age well, ''All quiet on the western front'' is probably the most anti-war movie of many last decades worldwide...

[@SunflowerSocialist]

Allegedly, during the production of Saving Private Ryan (perhaps the single greatest war film of all time), Spielberg initially asked the US military to help with production, but they demanded he cut several scenes from the script, including the scene in which two American soldiers shoot surrendering Czech conscripts on D-Day (and then the soldiers joke that they were saying “look I washed for supper”), and the scene in which the Americans argue over executing a prisoner of war. Spielberg said hell no to those script changes, especially on the former, as it was an integral scene for character development and sets up some important moments later in the film. Spielberg also wanted these scenes because his goal was to create as authentic a portrayal of World War II as he could, and the whole sense of FUBAR that is a running theme throughout the film, which meant the Soldiers couldn’t be shown in an entirely positive light. Without the support of the US military, Spielberg turned to the Irish Defense Forces to help with the production, and they agreed to assist in making the film without any non technical script changes. In fact, most of the unnamed extras you see as soldiers in the film (especially those who lose limbs) are in fact active duty Irish Soldiers. Of course this is all rumor, and there is no source I can find saying that Spielberg even met with the DOD during the production history of Saving Private Ryan, and it is very possible that Spielberg simply opted to side step the DOD altogether, since the location scouts had selected several locations in Ireland for the biggest battle sequence (ie the D-Day landing scene) and so Spielberg may have just opted to talk to the Irish Defense Forces instead of the DOD from the get go. But what’s kind funny is despite the DOD having no involvement in the film, and the DOD either rejected the script, and if they didn’t they probably would have rejected it anyways, the DOD gave Spielberg an award for the film (and personally, that movie deserved every award it’s gotten, and is one of my all time favorite movies)

[@thomasffrench3639]

Which is crazy, because Saving Private Ryan isn’t very anti-war. By no means is it pro war, but it doesn’t sugar coat it either.

[@fatcat1414]

This is a bit of a tangent but this is also why I think animation should become a bigger thing in war media. You can have your weapons and locations without nearly as much bootlicking.

[@matthewo2261]

This gives a new meaning to the phrase "state affiliated media".... corp media tells everyone that "state affiliated media" only exists in dictatorships.. but what they really mean is everyone but us.

[@edwardhanson3664]

It's the Military Industrial Entertainment Evangelical Complex now.

[@planetoftheatheists6858]

And lest we forget the pro-CIA movies that portray these people like freedom fighters with almost Ninja levels of stealth, able to infiltrate any building, organization or government on earth like Jason Bourne. All in the cause of advancing democracy and fighting terrorism, don't ya know.

[@grmpEqweer]

More like installing bribable strongmen while _using_ planned violence...

[@felipenunes5240]

Reality about CIA: More than 600 failed assassination attempts on Fidel Castro lol

[@spencervance8484]

@@felipenunes5240 more than 600 attempts? That aint a good look. I can understand four or five attempts but over 600?

[@felipenunes5240]

@@spencervance8484 supposedly 638, to be precise

[@lyokianhitchhiker]

@@felipenunes5240 to be fair to them, they didn’t account for his paranoia.

[@Noukz37]

I think percentage wise, there's more people outside of the US that know this crucial piece of information than the american citizens themselves.

[@64bitmodels66]

yeah cuz it affects them more than it does us. we stay oblivious while our government fucks everyone else over. thats how the US became a superpower- by exploiting other countries for its own gain. im so glad china is speedily catching up

[@americancommunist6076]

thats the point

[@anarchomando7707]

@@64bitmodels66 war is a racket always has been always will (Good book although I suggest having an inflation calculator on hand at all times)

[@Moli5623]

Interestingly Apocalypses was shot in the Philippines under a a deal with the former US backed Dictator. The same sort of deal applied where they were granted locations and military equipment for shooting. Surprisingly it still made an interesting anit-war/colonialism movie, but maybe that's just more of a testament to the source material "The heart of Darkness." I suppose its also worth noting that the Ride of the Valkyries scene has become iconic among weird war nerds. causing many people to miss the point of the movie entirely. take that as you will i suppose.

[@Turdfergusen382]

Great video. I wouldn't be the slightest bit surprised to find out this happens with some video games too

[@IronKnight2402]

*cough *cough CoD

[@glitchedoom]

You mean like with one of the most popular video game franchises of all time that has been doing it for almost 20 years now?

[@Turdfergusen382]

Maybe even sensoring more progressive games too.

[@WorldGovernmentGeoInstitut]

You can name me any video game with action genres in it (like action-adventure) and I can show you it's propaganda, even for the military or other government body.

[@Turdfergusen382]

@@WorldGovernmentGeoInstitut What are some of the good ones that are less intuitive? I don't know a lot of video games.

[@lynnboartsdye1943]

Imagine if we glorified serial killers in documentaries the way we do the military, it makes no sense to glorify mass murder and destruction like that. I’d love to see something done with captain America where he’s faced with the corruption of the country he serves and has to process his own involvement in the corruption.

[@azv343]

Everyone outside the U.S. groans audibly in theaters whenever war platitudes are spouted or even when the American flag is brandished onscreen.

[@TheOneWhoSometimesSaysOk]

European movies about war: Tragic, terrible, people being desperate about their situation Hollywood movies about war: "so we got this guy with a shield that kills hundreads of nazis every day with ease*

[@devinfaux6987]

Fun fact: during this video I got an ad for a thing parents can use to protect their kids from harmful, silly ideas. The kid in the ad was talking about the means of production.

[@TheFalconerNZ]

l just love how the us calls out China & N Korea for human rights violations while simultaneously 1- using those same tactics, 2- deny using them for as long as they can, 3- then use movies to show how those tactics caught bad people or prevented attacks against the us. The films The Mauritanian (2021) & Eye in the Sky (2015) show the darker of the military but they didn't make the numbers l am sure the upcoming Call of Duty game movie adaptation will get.

[@youtuber8356]

The US accuses the DPRK of human rights abuses, I wonder what they call what the US did in the Korean War, when they killed 20% of the population in the north, destroyed every building over 2 stories tall, and collaborated with Japan to drop millions of bubonic plague infested fleas in the north

[@americancommunist6076]

"calls out" ha they make most of the shit up about both!

[@hakageryu307]

"Want to get out of poverty or go to college OR get help paying back those loans?" "The military is always there and is your sure-fire path to living the American dream and retiring in 20 years, even if your form a filthy poor family!" *This message brought to you by the Backdoor Draft*

[@MichaelJones-rz5sw]

Here's also a few example. Roadie in Iron Man 2 wasn't allowed to be referred as War Machine because he was active duty in the Air Force in the film. In Independence Day they were not allowed to use modern aircraft vehicles but retired ones. Because the film depicts the military as hiding the secrets of Area 51.

[@rickb3650]

Look at the films made in the period between the Civil Rights Act and reagan's election. It's not just the films directly about the military, its' pervasive throughout the industry. M*A*S*H went from a dark, satirical comedy about the futility of war and the rampant incompetence of military organizations, to a prime time sitcom that just happened to take place in the Korean war, and the antagonists (Burns and Hoolihan), were turned into harmless clowns. The film of the Broadway Musical 1776 had an entire scene cut from it at the request and order of Nixon and Jack Warner because it made the southern conservative faction (slave states) look bad. A film like Network can't even get made for the last 40 years. The '75 film Rollerball by Paddy Cheyevski, a film about the dangers of corporate power in the absence of government oversight, was remade and the entire premise was literally eliminated. The Millennials are the first generation that has never even seen America with free speech and civil protections. Ironically, the right wing people that are so upset by government and corporate power today don't even realize that it is the result of the authoritarian boomers and their PTSD generation parents that created it.

[@anarchomando7707]

there were many boomers who stood up for themselves Problem is they died in Vietnam and Korea Problem is they died in the AIDS crisis Problem is they died via lynching Problem is they died under capitalism They died due to harsh prisons They died to do unsafe living conditions The war on drugs killed a number of the black population just by falsely putting them in jail (and let's not forget the hippies and the Latinos and others) , My point is those who still believe in this country they did not suffer they merely profited off of those others

[@RobotsWithKnivesCartoons]

It's funny my fav movie about the military is Dr. Strangelove and my dad says he can't watch it because it makes him too uncomfortable since he used to work on a nuclear submarine, and literally says he doesn't want to think about the implications of what that could enable.

[@AzureTheAvian]

I want to sympathize with those who join the military, but… the more I learn about the American military, the harder that becomes. I know not all personnel are a part of the terrible stuff they do, many of them joined because they had no other choice. But as a whole, the US military is one of the biggest monsters in today’s world.

[@TheSundownState]

Same. I know people I grew up with who joined and I just feel so bad for them. They either have no idea what they’re taking part in or they know and they’re fine with it.

[@brokenrecord3095]

yeah... one thing I find odd is the whole "thank you for your service" thing. most of the military are just guys doing their jobs (jobs which many took simply because there was nothing better available to them), and most of those jobs aren't particulary heroic or edifying, and the overall cumulative effect of all those jobs isn't something I really feel deserving of gratitude

[@felipenunes5240]

Both things are true. It's possible to understand the role of the US military in imperialist expansion AND to recognize that a lot of it's members only joined it because they *live in a society* that artificially induces poverty and leaves them with little to no choice. It doesn't excuse the fact that they are furthering the imperialist agenda by doing any work for the institution, but it is important to consider, and you should still condemn their actions, and most importantly, fight for the end of this expansion process.

[@ultimatequeenofdeath666]

the worst part about propaganda is that no one sees it as propaganda unless they’re from another country

[@ra_alf9467]

And even worse about it is, when we told them that it was a propaganda, they'll always says that we are the one who consumed our country's propaganda

[@Jujube285]

Not really. Born & raised in the USA & see the machine for what it is & has always been.

[@homosapien5156]

As a non American, not very relevant to me. I have always been suspicious of armed forces probably because of my interest in political science and humanitarian values I have been brought up with. But I can see how it will be problematic for most people especially Americans. Keep up the important work.

[@johnpaulsylvester3727]

Team America: World Police is a perfect template for how to satire US imperialism and liberalism.

[@Ironwill902]

I love that movie lol!!!

[@epelly3]

It’s nice to know that the only people that go out of their way to watch these movies have a good video I can send them to wake them up

[@juancah0118]

bro, it's a fucking avengers movie it's not a capitalist war propaganda

[@itsJoshuaSkyy]

As a prior soldier and Afghan war veteran, I agree with this video 100%. The Hurt Locker came out as I was enlisting and definitely influenced by enlisting. A decision I regret basically every single day

[@Joaking91]

@@Ash12428 because you cant be in the military and not do bad things. Imperialism is their mission statement and each and every role is necessary for the carnage. People with morals dont just brush it off because "i wanted to go to college"

[@Joaking91]

@@Ash12428 so you believe that the US military isnt an imperialist organizatiom that causes untold, irreversible harma and deatha to the people in the places they invade for the interests of plutocrats or you believe that that is true but worth glossing over as long as an american gets something out of it?

[@Joaking91]

@@vyros.3234 so that makes the wehrmacht ok for example? The US military serves imperialism and hebce is bad. The militaries that fight against imperialism are good.

[@felipenunes5240]

@@vyros.3234 Here in Brazil I have never seen a single movie portraying our military as unilaterally good. In fact, it's much more common to see negative representations of them in media, specially in our literature.

[@mekannatarry1929]

Guess I was just the type to never find the military too appealing, sure for a while I "respected" the system, usually because I thought you simply had to, buuut it didn't take much for me to only feel pity for most of those roped into the military. Also you brought up a sobering thought, this country alone hasn't gone even a single generation without some kind of conflict.

[@GarkKahn]

Want a world without war? Simple solution, just send everyone to battle at least once, i assure you all their liking for armed conflicts will be over for good

[@Top_Hat_Walrus]

I recommend everyone (especially men who have a glamourised view of war) to read All Quiet on the Western Front. It changed my view of World War 1 and war as a whole. Previously to reading it I had played Battlefield 1 which did a decent job at showing the horror of the war but in the end still made the whole thing quiet fun and i was also pretty young when i first played it so i didn’t really understand the reality of the situation. I had a somewhat gloryfied view of WW1 and War in general, after reading All Quiet on the Western Front my perspective changed entirely.

[@robertflores3782]

Dope episode. WW1 was a great reference. Woodrow Wilson ran his campaign on the promise to keep America out of the bloodshed in Europe. 6months after being elected we declared war, plus we had the draft...👍 @SecondThough Btw please 🙏 make an episode about comparing the Iroquois democracy vs American colonial democracy. That would be gold.. you're welcome

[@Yishu_Art]

something you'd think China does but they actually dont really and US does a whole bunch.

[@serugolino7867]

Oh China does the same thing. But Chinese blockbusters are more on the nose. But Chinese propaganda films are sometimes wuxia masterpieces and US propaganda are usually Transformers.

[@Mae_Renneburg]

Have you ever watched a Chinese film about war? Yeah, exactly.

[@Gayfrogscollective]

"Consider your consent... manufactured." Cool guys don't look at explosions, they walk away and get killed by the blast wave.

[@terrysmith6133]

you should have mentioned how the goverment agreeded to pay the combat vets of ww1 a wage equal to the factory workers of the war effort after ww1 only to tell them they cant collect till 1945 and in 1932 during the depression when vets surrounded the white house they sent the current enlisted men to disperse them sending some tom a camp in the florida keys during hurricane season in tents as you can imagine a hurricane came and words cant describe it but it wasnt pretty.

[@-AxisA-]

Happy new year for everyone around the world from Finland! 2022 will be an even more bizarre year than 2021 with the metaverse launching. I think we can firmly now say we live in a Tecnofeudalist society, instead of a capitalisic one.

[@leahjackiepeah4130]

Nan. You live in such a mental world. I live in a theologian socialism capitalist mental world. I live in America which is Christian believe in social good and capitalism. So you made live in that mess of a mental world I live in the free good thoughts mental world. A world that don't believe in Facebook trashy universe because I know I don't need it. I can just go outside or build the set of what I want. I want to pretend to stand on Mars I just build a set for it. I want to pretend to be in space I just build the set for it. Not only is it fun but much better then some fake Facebook world. It's real and it help to actually build what is needed to get where I want to instead of turning me into some fat lazy person like in the movie WALL-E. I mean I am just saying..only losers believe Facebook fake world. Winners invent things to go to said locations.

[@Elizabeth-eu5sv]

Some movies that don't even explicitly glorify war still function as imperialist propaganda, much like the MCU's Black Panther. The villain promoted Pan-Africanism, and it was seen as a victory when Wakanda let the US take its natural resources. I haven't watched the movie in a while so I might be leaving some stuff out, but I find it extra insidious when imperialist propaganda hides behind progressive aesthetics

[@Moscato_Moscato]

Cody Johnston pointed this out recently in the Some More News MCU but I’ve been saying this for a while now and I find it very frustrating how the MCU is very much liberal utopia upheld by literal war criminals Iron man’s weaponry has definitely killed way more people than the movies let us in on and on top of that, the movie writers have turned working class hero Spider-Man into an iron man JR with all of the cool tech that can wipe out cities( as if that’s the right any person should have!!) and in movies like Homecoming and Far From Home, he’s fighting “villains” that were just workers screwed over by Tony stark Far from home is even more egregious because Mysterio’s group of workers were in some sense forming a union against stark and reappropriating his tech against him but the writers of the movie had to make it seem like that’s bad by making them do bad things

[@Shoggoth405]

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is even worse at that. From the villain "anarchists" whose villainy feel incredibly forced to how it tries to talk about race by making the action of systemic as whoopsies and a thing of the past (no mention of the prison system and so on) that are remedied not by systemic change but by a big heartfelt speech to politicians and a corner in Captain America museum.

[@Shoggoth405]

@blessings You realise the problem is that often the point, while good or at least well meaning, of these movie are completely undermined by either the in story context (like OP pointed out) or real life (like with the DoD backing that result in erasing any actual criticism of the army or AMERICA)? Like how SHIELD's concept isn't inherently bad, the problem was the presence of HYDRA? It's genuinely incredible how broken the point of these movies become once you think about it and how deep it goes. Not to mention it also manage to fuck up character growth like with Stark who manage to forget the end of Iron man 3 only to build Ultron afterward.

[@vysharra]

Everyone but Tony stans got screwed. Steve starts out as an idealist caught up in a world war (but his stakes were personal, his honor gets betrayed by being a dancing monkey then his bestie gets nearly killed/killed and he ‘dies’ for the cause) and wakes up in a world where he can’t tell the difference between the US and Hydra (Nazis). SHIELD is unquestionably the bad guys in _Avengers_ (to the point Whedon turned down Pentagon money to keep them out of the script). Steve finds tesseract guns that literally killed his best friend just weeks ago (by his reckoning) and plans for bigger, nastier tesseract weapons (that he literally killed himself to prevent) that SHIELD “needs”. Then the Avengers stop a nuke from being deployed against their own people (remember when Steve died to stop the bombs headed for the east coast) and the implication at the end is that Tony wants to privatize the Avengers and break with SHIELD. Except that never happens. Hydra is the ill lurking within SHIELD and the US, causing all the problems. Peggy, despite literally hiring Bucky’s torturer and murderer and letting Nazis get a foothold right under her nose, is a soft, sweet, tragic old lady. SHIELD is overtly _international_ with bureaucrats and bad guys speaking with accents, despite it being headquartered in Washington DC and Hollywood American male darling Robert Redford playing the long-time leader. Then, Captain America quite literally gets into bed with the American intelligence agency (and all the implied horrors they perpetrated over the decades) by going back to the past to play house with Peggy. The person who is in no small part responsible for the Winter Soldier. It was SO disappointing to see him become the reality of America instead of the ideal.

[@Shoggoth405]

@@CulturalMarxist4985 The Winter Soldier may be harder on the criticisms but the rest portraying the US/other agencies as simply misguided, chalking up the problems to some bad apples that just need a heartfelt speech (like in the Falcon's series)/be removed without really acknowledging systemic problems (if not outright denying them) or worse, turning the characters pointing out those problems into villains (with Killmonger and the Flag-Smasher) simply cancel out whatever that one movie did.

[@ShrapnelStars]

I think you just explained why I never liked Captain America, ever, even before the MCU was started. It always felt like unironic propaganda to me, and I always viewed the character as a product of it's time that probably wouldn't work out well with modern audiences. Boy, was I wrong. I never understood why people went crazy over him during the MCU boom until this video. People have been steeped in pro-war propaganda for so long that they don't see anything off about him. And I know Iron Man suffers from a lot of the same issues, but at least they bothered to critique how war and collateral damage affect other people's lives, and how he grew a conscience over his hand in innocent deaths simply by running the weapons company, with that being a massive part of his character arc over the course of his movies. Oh, and wouldn't you know it, Iron Man started to show up less and less while Captain America was promoted more and more in MCU. Hmm, how curious. I know there were contract issues and RDJ was tired, but you can't tell me this wasn't also a factor. Again, Iron Man had a lot of the same problems with portrayal of weapons and war torn countries, but the one character that served as an outlet for legitimate criticism had to fade into the background over the course of the universe. And Ultron, who served a similar purpose, was swiftly canned.

[@NotoriousSRG]

I watched this video on Nebula (ad-free) but came here to hype the algorithm.

[@SecondThought]

Thank you! I really appreciate it

[@NotoriousSRG]

@@SecondThought for sure! If I wasn’t struggling with money bc of my ADHD (I make enough I’m just bad at money) I’d be supporting you financially.

[@zfqhdjgyb2222]

this why i never really liked watching many mainstream movies.. too much propaganda. americans are always like oh the nazis and chinese and russia use so much propaganda, yet fail to see it in their own system.

[@vishalkeerthi101]

I feel like Hollywood also sells other aspects of capitalism. Like the how public's view of billionaires might be influenced by glorified movie billionaires like Tony Stark, Bruce Wayne, Gordon Gekko etc.

[@WorldGovernmentGeoInstitut]

Honestly, other media (even from other countries like Japan) glorify mega-rich people. I could mention a few franchises or characters.

[@the-Albino-Rhino]

No one knows who Gordon Gekko is, or why he was in jail. But we all know Stark and Wayne, who embody the potential of a human without supernatural power. We have said "super humans" today, and to call these heroes "capitalist" kinda reinforces the idea that capitalism is a system of growth and potential... which is kinda fitting.

[@WorldGovernmentGeoInstitut]

@MLKKK Dunno about DC or Marvel, I'm not fond of comic book super heroes, I find them boring, but there are other media that do glorify ultra-wealthy people.

[@snowcrabby5544]

I guess Saving private Ryan was the worst thing to happen to the American war complex cuz me thinking war was cool ended the moment someone put it on

[@andersonrusnell3102]

I checked out your podcast, I enjoyed you and your cohosts interacting with one another

[@SecondThought]

Thanks! So glad you like it